Austin Film Festival To Honor Johnny Depp

Austin Film Festival To Honor Johnny Depp

The Austin Film Festival a new honor: Extraordinary Contribution to Film – Acting. And, the first recipient will be Johnny Depp, who will be present at the festival to receive the honor, as well as to present the Distinguished Screenwriter to Caroline Thompson.

Depp will also be around for screenings of his latest film, “The Rum Diary,” which is based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson and for a retrospective of “Edward Scissorhands” with Thompson.

The festival will take place from October 20-27, with the Awards Luncheon on October 22 at the Austin Club.

Actor Johnny Depp will be in Austin for the Austin Film Festival! He will be our first-ever recipient of the Festival’s inaugural Extraordinary Contribution to Film – Acting Award. Depp will also present Distinguished Screenwriter Awardee Caroline Thompson with her Award and be on hand for screenings of his new film The Rum Diary (based on the novel by Hunter S. Thompson) and a retrospective of Edward Scissorhands with Thompson.

AFF is honoring Depp for his collective body of work, his contribution to the culture of film and, above all, for his recognition and support of the importance of writing and the value of the writer, made apparent by many of his film choices and working relationships with writers like Austin Film Festival alums Terry Rossio & Ted Elliot, John August, Peter Hedges, and, of course, Caroline Thompson.

He will be presented with the Award at the Awards Luncheon on Saturday, 10/22, at the Austin Club at 12:15pm. Depp will also be presenting Distinguished Screenwriter Awardee Caroline Thompson with her award. Included in her numerous credits are two films featuring Depp: Edward Scissorhands and Corpse Bride. This year’s other award recipients are Extraordinary Contribution to Filmmaking Awardee John Lasseter (Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios) and Outstanding Television Writer Awardee Hart Hanson (creator/writer/executive producer of “Bones,” “The Finder”). The Awards Luncheon is presented by Alice Kleberg Reynolds Foundation.

Depp will introduce his new film The Rum Diary at the Paramount Theatre on Oct. 21st at 7pm (which opens in theaters nationwide October 28th) and he will do a Q&A following the film. Joining him for the Q&A will be The Rum Diary writer/director Bruce Robinson. Robinson was nominated for an Academy Award as well as a Golden Globe for his screenplay, The Killing Fields. His other screenplay credits include, How to Get Ahead In Advertising, In Dreams, and Fat Man and Little Boy.

FilmDistrict’s The Rum Diary tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavor y scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take them down.

With fellow award-recipient and screenwriter Caroline Thompson, Depp will also introduce a special retrospective screening of Edward Scissorhands at 9:45pm at the Paramount Theatre. Thompson will do a Q&A following the film.

Austin Film Festival Badges have priority admission to all screenings, followed by Film Passes, and then individual ticket holders. Badges and Film Passes may be purchased online here or at Austin Film Festival’s Registration Office at the Driskill Hotel during the following hours: